Joy Reid Presses Buttigieg on Strategy That Led to ‘White Guy Employment Act’
MSNBC’s Joy Reid claimed that President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is tailored for White, male Republicans, and that it leaves out minorities and women, which the Build Back Better Act would not have.
Biden signed the $1 trillion bill into law in November, and declared at the time, “So my message to the American people is this: America is moving again, and your life is going to change for the better.”
The investment in roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure was hailed as a victory for bipartisanship at the time — just 66 days ago — but Reid apparently is not sold on the bill.
Reid welcomed transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg on The ReidOut Thursday to discuss both the bipartisan bill and the Build Back Better Act, which has been shelved after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he won’t vote for it in its current form.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged in November that she wanted both bills passed together, but infighting among Democrats forced them to forge ahead with only the infrastructure and jobs act.
Reid asked Buttigieg about the infrastructure deal, which she said should have been passed with Build Back Better Act:
Do you think it was a mistake, looking back? Because the infrastructure bill that was passed was cleaved apart from what’s now being called Build Back Better. And in a sense, it’s a bill that’s like a white guy employment act. Right? There is going to be a lot of working class men that are going to get employed by that bill. But that’s the very cohort that is much more likely to reward Republicans for that. That’s who they vote for. Most working class white guys vote Republican. Meanwhile, all the stuff for the women, for moms, for people who need childcare, for people of color, that’s going to affect climate.
Reid then pressed, “Do you think it was a mistake to split those bills?”
Buttigieg pushed back on Reid’s assertion that the infrastructure deal will only benefit White men.
“No, and I want to challenge the idea that this is a bill that only benefits one part of the population,” Buttigieg said. “I get where you’re coming from, and what you’re saying, but look, you look at something like the investment in transit, you know, it’s Americans of color, commuters of color who are most likely to depend on that.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
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